


Disinterest and Flame Spells

by sexyorcsingles



Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-20 16:10:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21059492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sexyorcsingles/pseuds/sexyorcsingles
Summary: The Dragonborn and Rayya stumble across quite the surprising sight in Ivarstead.





	Disinterest and Flame Spells

The Dragonborn was used to seeing odd sights in Skyrim. Odd sights were practically the only thing he saw nowadays, with all these dragons and necromancers and weird burial crypts about. Skyrim was just full of weird shit, and the Dragonborn and his housecarl Rayya had long since become numb to a great deal of it. You were basically forced to if you wanted to keep sane. 

But this was new.

It had been a long walk for the both of them. The Dragonborn had met up with some woman who had taken the Horn that he had been tasked to retrieve by the greybeards, and she basically forced him to go to Kynesgrove and kill a dragon for her, just so she could see that he was dragonborn. Clearly someone wasn’t keeping track of the news, or just didn’t realize she could just ask him to Shout. Regardless, the dragon had been slain, dragon soul absorbed, Delphine back off to Riverwood to figure out their next task, and the remaining two walking to see what else could be done in the day before they’d need to settle in for the night. The Dragonborn decided to head to Ivarstead- it wasn’t too long of a trek, and there were more then a few things to check out along the way.

They had saved a Khajiit caravaner from a giant, killed more then their fair share of bears and wolves, tried to help who they thought was an attacked merchant but turned out to be a bandit trap, killed those bandits, and kept an eye out for dragons... but all of that was normal. That was all things they were used to. It was when they got to Ivarstead late in the night and walked into the inn that they saw something that legitimately left the Dragonborn shocked silent.

Sitting inside the inn, talking to some very awed townsfolk, was a man in steel plate armour, with his companion beside him a very bored looking Redguard in a poorly tied Alik'r hood, hair poking out of it. In fact, they looked quite similar to the Dragonborn and Rayya. The Dragonborn had unique armour, having made his himself, and Rayya was much more stocky then this other redguard woman and donned face paint, but to someone who had only heard of the Dragonborn, it would have been easy to mistake this pair for the real deal. Add the fact that the Dragonborn had only visit Ivarstead once, and briefly, you couldn’t blame them for thinking this new smooth talker was the real Dragonborn.

Rayya cleared her throat.

The copycats looked over, and the armoured man visibly flinched. There was a confused murmur through the crowd, but the faker just laughed and stood up, walking over to the Dragonborn and wrapping his arm around his shoulders. 

“Well well, I didn’t think I was so popular that I’d have people trying to copy my look to be just like me! What are you, some kid I saved from a dragon? You wear your armour well, my friend.” The faker laughed, patting the Dragonborn’s chestplate. He was... significantly shorter. The Dragonborn easily hit 6′9″, but this faker was barely 6′4″. “What a weird coincidence, right Raza?“

The redguard shot the man a ticked off look. “Yes, my Thane.” She replied in a voice dripping annoyance. She went back to picking at her nails.

“That’s more then enough.” Rayya spoke, crossing her arms. The Dragonborn awkwardly pushed the man’s arm off of him. “What’s the meaning of this? Why are you impersonating the Dragonborn?“

“Impersonating?“ The faker laughed. “My dear girl-“

“Call me that again and I’ll cut off your hand.“

He faltered a moment. “Er- I don’t see why you call us the fakers when you and your companion here are going about dressed just like us. Why, wouldn’t that make you the fakers?”

“How dare you!“ Rayya barked, reaching for the curved sword on her hip. The Dragonborn raised his hand though, and she stopped, though it didn’t get the murderous look off her face.

The Dragonborn was silently staring down at the man. He hadn’t said a word about this yet, and Rayya had to wonder what was going on through his head. Wouldn’t he want to set the record straight about this? What was he going to do here? But... but she had to admit, his silence was impacting the crowd. The confused murmurs only grew with every passing second that the Dragonborn merely stared down at the faker. 

“Now now, what’s going on here?“ The innkeeper finally spoke, crossing his arms. “I was told this here,“ A gesture towards the faker. “Was the real Dragonborn. Said he needed to have a room here because he heard a dragon was heading this way. Wanted to be well rested for it.”

“...When did he say the dragon was coming?“ The Dragonborn finally spoke in his soft voice.

Wilhelm seemed surprised. “Er- tomorrow morning, he said.“

“Then we have lots of time.“ The Dragonborn gestured to the fake. Rayya gave him an odd look, but said nothing. “We can settle this dispute easily, can’t we?“

“We can?“ The faker said, but quickly gained back his confidence. “Of course we can! Why, it will be easy. I have plenty of ideas of my own, but go ahead and voice yours. But make sure it’s a quick one, I have... lots to do tonight.” He did a tacky fingergun at the bard Lynly, making the fake-Rayya roll her eyes. Lynly giggled slightly, though she seemed nervous.

“Easy. We go outside, and you show the good people of Ivarstead your thu’um.“

The fake dragonborn balked, staring at the real one in wide eyed surprise. “I- Of course! Of course, I’ll show everyone my- my Thu’um. Easy. Why, a brawl would be easier! Why don’t we brawl instead? Prove your words with your fists!” He challenged, but the Dragonborn was having none of it. Thankfully, the people in the inn weren’t either.

Another Nord spoke up. “Only the Dragonborn can Shout without training. And the Dragonborn had been called up to High Hrothgar recently, everyone heard it. So the real Dragonborn should be able to shout without any problem.”

The rest of the people in the inn murmured in agreement. Rayya just gave her Thane an approving nod. He always seemed to have a plan, didn’t he? Well, perhaps not always, but it was definitely an impressive show of thinking on his feet.

“Well I’m- I’m very tired, you see. And shouting would- it would er-“

“It would be like summoning a dragon by name.“ Raza offered, not looking up from her hand.

“Exactly! Exactly.“ The fake Dragonborn was quick to nod. “And besides, the only shouts I know are very powerful and destructive, we wouldn’t want to ruin anyone’s home, now would we?”

“If a dragon came, wouldn’t you be able to kill it? After all, the Dragonborn is the ultimate dragonslayer.“ Another Nord pointed out.

“You planned on killing one in the morning, didn’t you? Why not call it sooner and make sure it’s dead?“ Wilhelm pointed out. “I’m not giving you any free room until you prove that you’re the real Dragonborn.“

The faker balked again, looking to his Redguard companion. She just looked up at him with a sneer. “Well, my Thane? They’ve made it clear that they want proof. Show the good people your thu’um.”

He seemed shocked at the side she took, but nodded and crossed his arms. “Very well. If that’s what you all need to see, then I’ll show you my- my Thu’um and defend you all from a dragon! But if something gets ruined, it won’t be my fault.”

“I’ll be happy to pay for any damages he does trying to prove himself.“ The Dragonborn pipped up, which seemed to make his double all the more confident.

“See? What a good sport. Then, let me prove it to all of you!“

The fake Dragonborn led the way outside, with the real one, Rayya and the fake-Rayya (who was very reluctant to get up) quick to follow him out. The townsfolk followed as well, with Wilhelm being the last out, locking the inn behind him. There would be no retreat for the faker, whoever it would turn out to be. As the faker got himself ‘set up’ in the middle of the road, a few guards approached curiously to see what was going on and joined the crowd once they got their explanation. The real Dragonborn stood beside the fake, arms crossed as he watched. The two Rayya’s stood off to the side, the fake one looking very uninterested while the real one awkwardly hovered her hands by her head, trying to fix her messy hood. 

“Go ahead.“ The real Dragonborn told him.

“I’m- I’m getting ready. Be patient.“ The fake replied. He took a few deep breaths, popped his back, then hovered his hands by his helmet. He finally took it off, revealing an Altmer who seemed quite nervous(and rather short for his race). He tossed the helmet towards Raza... who gave it a disinterested look as it fell a few feet behind her and a foot to her right. Raza turned back to Rayya, who continued fixing her hood, the two talking softly to each other. Everyone else was focused intently on the two dragonborns.

The Altmer cleared his throat, then brought his hands to his mouth. “Fire!” He yelled, and a stream of fire whipped through his hands. He was quick to lower them the moment the fire stopped, putting his hands on his hips. “There, see? I-”

“Now do it without your hands.“ The Dragonborn told him.

The shock was obvious on his face. “I beg your pardon?”

“Do it without your hands covering your mouth.“

“Er-“ He seemed to pale, crossing his arms and shuffling his feet. “W-well, it amplifies my voice! It makes my shout much more powerful.“

“That’s okay,“ the Dragonborn said in a kindly voice. “Even if it isn’t very impressive without your hands, it will still be proof that you’re the real Dragonborn, right?“

The high elf could tell he had been caught in his lie, but seemed determined to try to preserve his dignity as much as he could. “Fine! I will!” He told him in a haughty tone, looking to his own redguard companion. She didn’t even give him the time of day, too busy talking to Rayya about something. He huffed and looked ahead once more.

“Fire!“ He yelled. Absolutely nothing came of it, and he began to sweat. “F-fire! Fire! Fire!!!“

The Dragonborn put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “Mind if I try?”

Without waiting for an answer, he clapped his hands together. He could hear the faint encouragement of the dragon souls within, he could taste the warmth on his tongue. He thought of Paarthurnax and the meditation they had done together on this word of power... not to mention how he had taught him the final word. Some part of him was excited to shout. It wanted... no, needed to prove this faker wrong in the most dramatic way possible, to assert his dominance over such a pathetic mortal- woah. Now that was a dangerous line of thought. He tried to focus on the matter at hand.

“Yol Toor Shul!” He shouted into the sky, a stream of fire expelling from the front of his helmet, powerful and hot. It made the flames spell that the high elf and tried to pass off as a shout seem like a candle. It burned in the air, melting any snow that might have threatened to fall and burning the tips of the Altmer’s hair beside him.

Said Altmer looked... incredibly shaken. He had gone completely pale despite the heat, and as the Dragonborn slowly turned to look at him as the fire vanished into the air, he actually jumped. His mouth opened and closed a few times, but then he just hightailed it out of there, not even grabbing his helmet. Raza glanced over his way, then just rolled her eyes.

“I got paid first, I don’t care.” She noted. 

The crowd immediately started talking amongst themselves, but the Dragonborn simply walked over to the two Redguard women.

“Make a friend?“ He asked, the grin heard on his voice. Rayya just laughed, gently swatting his arm.

“Raza here was telling me they’ve been running this scam for a couple of weeks now. Apparently he paid her a hefty chunk of septims to impersonate me.”

“Very hefty. No ill will Dragonborn, but you can’t blame me for it, can you?“ Raza bat her eyes at him.

“Of course not.“ He replied, completely immune to her charms. “You hardly seemed interested in the scam at all. And it was fun! I like showing off.“ He let out a hearty laugh, crossing his arms. “Is that a bad thing to say? I can’t help it, sometimes it’s fun to take a break from dealing with bandits and dealing with wild animals to just... make fun of some poor con artist.“

“I don’t think anyone could blame you, my Thane. Especially with the show you put on.“ Rayya told him with a smile. “Not a soul could blame you.“

Raza beside her smirked. “Except his soul.“


End file.
